Baby exerciser

ABSTRACT

An infant exerciser having a removable cradle spring mounted in a framework on an incline with a footstop and crossbar that allows an infant to exercise his muscles, develop his coordination, and provides a pleasant pastime.

United States Patent inventor Arthur S. Williams 4044 Hitchcock Road, Concord, Calif. 94520 Appl. No. 32,128 Filed Apr. 27, i970 Patented Nov. 23, 1971 BABY EXERCISER 10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 272/58, 272/79 R int. Cl A63b2l/00, A63b 23/04 Field of Search 272/57, 58,

(56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l,996,350 4/l935 Schaff 272/79 2,733,922 2/l956 Diego... 272/79 2,783,045 2/l957 Bosch 272/79 Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle Assistant E.raminer-Richard Dror Attorney-John D. Foster ABSTRACT: An infant exerciser having a removable cradle spring mounted in a framework on an incline with a footstop and crossbar that allows an infant to exercise his muscles, develop his coordination, and provides a pleasant pastime.

PATENTEOunv 23 nan SHEEI 1 BF 2 INVENTOR. Aufhur S. Williams BY z Attorney PATENTEBuuv 23 ran SHEET 2 BF 2 Attorney BABY EXERCISER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Infants at a very early age become very active with their arms and legs extending and waving their limbs in a playful manner thereby exercising their muscles to some extent. With help they can even support their own weight although they do not have the coordination necessary to move about.

Since the exercise of an infant's muscles and the resultant development of muscle tone is beneficial, the development of a safe apparatus to (I) provide such exercise and (2) provide self-entertainment for the infant would be highly desirable. Any such device to be safe must provide adequate support for the infant's back. The exercise and entertainment provide the infant, while beneficial in themselves, also could provide an opportunity for the development of coordination. That is, if the apparatus were so constructed that by kicking his legs while holding onto a correctly positioned bar, the infant could learn cause-effect relationships: (1) cause (the kicking) and effect (the movement of his body and anns away from the bar) together with (2) cause (bending of his knees) and effect (return of his body and arms to the vicinity of the bar), his coordination would be improved and his knowledge and understanding of his body's relationship to his environment would also be increased.

If, in addition, the apparatus were lightweight, easily portable, and could be used as a cradle or carrier for the infant, its utility would be even more evident. It is believed that no prior art device has been fully satisfactory in meeting all of these criteria.

2. Prior Art U.S. Pat. No. 1,996,350 describes an infant's exerciser having a carriage mounted on an inclined base and supported on rollers. The infant by pushing on a backstop causes the carriage to slide up the inclined base. When the infant bends his knees, the carriage slides back down the inclined base until it contacts the stops.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 215,389 and 339,638 show muscle exercisers utilizing push-pull-type motion on movable supports.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An infant exerciser is provided comprised of a framework with a footstop and a crossbar and a removable cradle spring mounted at an incline in the framework so that an infant pushing on the footstop while holding onto the crossbar will cause the cradle to move up and away from the footstop along an incline and when the infant flexes his knees the cradle will move back down the incline until it is restrained by a spring.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention with the removable cradle in the forward or downward position, i.e., the spring-extended position.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention showing in dotted lines the rollers and spring mounting of the removable cradle.

FIG. 3 is an end view of the exerciser from the left hand side of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a cross section along line 4-4 of FIG. 3 showing the infant lying in the exerciser and the rollers and spring assembly.

FIG. 5 is a cross section along line 4-4 of FIG. 4 showing the detail of one of the rollers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A more comprehensive understanding of the concept of this invention can be obtained by reference to the drawing which exemplifies two specific embodiments of the invention.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a framework is provided made up of side panels 1 and 2, a footstop 3 at the front end, a bottom crosspanel 4, a crossbar 5, two upright members 6 and 7 which support the crossbar 5 and an inclined surface 8 with its higher portion at the back end of the framework opposite from the footstop 3. A removable cradle 9 is mounted in the framework.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the inclined surface 8 has mounted thereon rollers 10 and 11 and laterally spaced therefrom wheels 12 and 13 (shown in FIG. 3) which together support the removable cradle 9 at an angle with the horizontal. The cradle 9 may include a pad 14.

The inclined surface 8 has a bracket 15 mounted thereon at the back end. A spring 16 is attached at its upper end to bracket 15 and at its lower end to a second bracket 17 attached to a removable cradle 9 in such a manner as to allow the spring 16 to be easily detached when the cradle 9 is to be used as a carrier.

FIG. 4 shows the position of the infant when the cradle 9 is at its lowest position and the spring 16 is fully extended and restraining the cradle 9 from continuing to slide by gravity down the inclined surface 8. FIG. 4 shows by means of a double-ended arrow 18 the position of the cradle 9 in its uppermost position.

In operating the exerciser, the infant pushes on the footstop 3 with his legs while holding on to crossbar 5 (shown in FIGS. 1 and 3). As his legs straighten out, he pushes the cradle 9 and necessarily himself up the inclined surface. When his legs are straight he can push the cradle 9 no further and his hands have either lost contact with the crossbar 5 or they have nearly lost contact depending on (I) the position of the cross bar 5, (2) the position of the baby in the cradle 9 and (3) the length of the infants arms.

When the infant bends his knees, gravity moves the cradle 9 down the inclined surface 8 on rollers 10, ll, I2, and 13 until the cradle 9 is restrained by the extended spring 16 prior to the cradle making contact with footstop 3.

As the cradle 9 and the infant slide down the inclined surface 8 the infant is able to again grab hold of the crossbar 5. By numerous replications of the described movements, the infant soon learns the mode of operation of the exerciser thereby entertaining himself and developing his muscles and coordination.

FIG. 5 shows in detail one form of roller which is satisfactory for use in the subject invention. Roller 11 is mounted in a U-shaped bracket 19 which is attached at its lower end to the inclined surface 8 by a bolt 20. The roller II has a groove 21 which completely circumscribes the outer circumference of the roller 11.

The cradle 9 has a cylindrical guide 22 running the length of the cradle 9 which acts to prevent sideways motion of the eradle 9 in operation. Guide 22 is also shown in FIG. 4 in its full length and guides 22 and 23 are shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3.

For exceptional lightness the framework can be constructed of metal tubing with a footstop of plastic or wood as shown in FIG. 2.

In FIG. 2 the framework is made up of a back end comprised of metal or rigid plastic tubing bent in the shape of a double U with the smaller U 24 sitting in the larger U 25, a front end of similar configuration as the back end but with the bottom portion of the smaller U 26 which sits in the larger U 27 lower than the bottom portion of the smaller U 25 at the end, metal tubings 28 and 29 connecting the lower outer extremities of the larger Us, a crossbar 30 supported by upright tubing members 31 and 32, and a footstop 33 connected by metal tube supports 34 and 35 to the lower outer extremities of the larger U at the front end.

Roller wheels 36, 37, 38, and 39 form an inclined plane and support the cradle 40 at an angle with the horizontal.

A spring 41 is connected at its upper end to the crossmember of the smaller U by a hook 42 at the framework's back end and the springs front end is easily attached to a hook 43 on the cradle 40.

A number of modifications can be made in the exerciser shown in the drawings without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

' For instance, the restraining means employed to prevent the cradle from making contact with the footstop can be elastic bands or the like as well as the spring depicted in the specific embodiments shown in the drawing.

The shape of the cradle which holds the infant can also be modified. For safety of the infant, however, the sides should be sufficiently high to prevent his falling out of the exerciser.

Among the types of cradles which can be satisfactorily used is the standard infant seat or carrier widely available and recommended by many doctors for carrying infants. Regardless of its exact form, the cradle utilized in the subject invention provides the necessary support for the infants back while exercising since the infants back is in constant contact with the cradle and is thereby supported. Padding can be attached to the footstop as well as the cradle to soften the contact of the infants body and feet with the exerciser. The bracket 17 on the removable cradle 9 can be hinged to allow it to be rotated to a flush position with the cradle when the cradie is removed from the framework and used as a carrier.

Also, three rollers, if correctly spaced in a triangular manner, are sufficient to support the cradle. Wheels can be used in place of the rollers, and the cylindrical guides 22 and 23, while desirable, are not required to obtain a functional exerciser.

The framework can be constructed of metal, wood, or plastic or combinations thereof.

it is apparent that different embodiments of this invention may be made without departing from the scope and spirit thereof; and therefore, it is not intended to be limited except as indicated in the appended claims.

lclaim:

1. An infant exerciser comprised of l) a framework having (a) a back end and a front end, (b) means connecting said back end and said front end, (c) a footstop mounted on said framework at said front end, (d) rotating means mounted on said framework forming a plane inclined from the horizontal and running down from said back end to said front end, and (e) a crossbar mounted on said framework extending over and across said plane; (2) a removable cradle mounted in said framework in contact with said rotating means; and (3) restraining means having an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portion attached to said framework at said back end and said lower portion removably attached to the bottom of said removable cradle in such a manner as to prevent said removable cradle from contacting said footstop while allowing said removable cradle to slide up and down said plane.

2. Claim 1 wherein said back end, said front end, said means connecting said back end and said front end, and said crossbar mounted on said framework are all constructed of tubing.

3. Claim 2 wherein 1) said back end is constructed of metal tubing bent in the shape of a double U with a smaller U sitting in a larger U, (2) said front end is constructed of metal tubing bent in the shape of a double U with a smaller U sitting in a larger U, the bottom portion of the said smaller U being lower than the bottom portion of the said smaller U, (3) said rotating means are two rollers mounted on the bottom portion of said smaller U and two rollers mounted on the bottom portion of said smaller U (4) said means connecting said upper end and said lower end is metal tubing running from the lower outer extremities of the said larger U to the corresponding lower outer extremities of the said larger U, and (5) said crossbar is mounted on said framework by means of two upright members having top and bottom portions, said top portions are attached to opposite ends of said crossbar, said bottom portions are attached to said means connecting said upper end and said lower end and said rotating means are rollers.

4. Claim 3 wherein said restraining means are elastic bands.

5. Claim 3 wherein said restraining means is a spring. 6. Claim 5 wherein said rotating means are wheels, and said tubing is metal tubing.

7. Claim 1 wherein (i) said rotating means forming said planes are mounted on an inclined member running downward from said back end to said front end (2) said means connecting said back end and said front end are (a) a bottom crosspanel end, (b) two side panels each of said two side panels having an upper inclined edge running down from said back end to said front end, said side panels attached to the side edges of said inclined member and said side panels are attached along their lower portions to said bottom crosspanel.

8. Claim 7 wherein said rotating means are rollers and restraining means is a spring.

9. Claim 7 wherein said rotating means are wheels and said restraining means is a spring.

10. Claim 1 wherein said means connecting said back end and said front end is a single piece of plastic having l two side panels, each of said two side panels having an upper inclined edge running down from said back end to said front end and (2) a bottom crosspanel, said rotating means are rollers, and said restraining means is a spring. 

1. An infant exerciser comprised of (1) a framework having (a) a back end and a front end, (b) means connecting said back end and said front end, (c) a footstop mounted on said framework at said front end, (d) rotating means mounted on said framework forming a plane inclined from the horizontal and running down from said back end to said front end, and (e) a crossbar mounted on said framework extending over and across said plane; (2) a removable cradle mounted in said framework in contact with said rotating means; and (3) restraining means having an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portion attached to said framework at said back end and said lower portion removably attached to the bottom of said removable cradle in such a manner as to prevent said removable cradle from contacting said footstop while allowing said removable cradle to slide up and down said plane.
 2. Claim 1 wherein said back end, said front end, said means connecting said back end and said front end, and said crossbar mounted on said framework are all constructed of tubing.
 3. Claim 2 wherein (1) said back end is constructed of metal tubing bent in the shape of a double U with a smaller U sitting in a larger U, (2) said front end is constructed of metal tubing bent in the shape of a double U with a smaller U'' sitting in a larger U'', the bottom portion of the said smaller U'' being lower than the bottom portion of the said smaller U, (3) said rotating means are two rollers mounted on the bottom portion of said smaller U and two rollers mounted on the bottom portion of said smaller U'' (4) said means connecting said upper end and said lower end is metal tubing running from the lower outer extremities of the said larger U to the corresponding lower outer extremities of the saiD larger U'', and (5) said crossbar is mounted on said framework by means of two upright members having top and bottom portions, said top portions are attached to opposite ends of said crossbar, said bottom portions are attached to said means connecting said upper end and said lower end and said rotating means are rollers.
 4. Claim 3 wherein said restraining means are elastic bands.
 5. Claim 3 wherein said restraining means is a spring.
 6. Claim 5 wherein said rotating means are wheels, and said tubing is metal tubing.
 7. Claim 1 wherein (1) said rotating means forming said planes are mounted on an inclined member running downward from said back end to said front end (2) said means connecting said back end and said front end are (a) a bottom crosspanel end, (b) two side panels each of said two side panels having an upper inclined edge running down from said back end to said front end, said side panels attached to the side edges of said inclined member and said side panels are attached along their lower portions to said bottom crosspanel.
 8. Claim 7 wherein said rotating means are rollers and restraining means is a spring.
 9. Claim 7 wherein said rotating means are wheels and said restraining means is a spring.
 10. Claim 1 wherein said means connecting said back end and said front end is a single piece of plastic having (1) two side panels, each of said two side panels having an upper inclined edge running down from said back end to said front end and (2) a bottom crosspanel, said rotating means are rollers, and said restraining means is a spring. 